Sorry to give you such a late update, but I do intend to keep my promise of it being done by/on the 20th!

Enjoy!

And I don't own Ice Age (obviously).

The kids stared in horror at the list. "Oh no… poor Krissy." Gupta noticed with dismay his one nice big sisters name there. What was her name doing on there?! She was nice to him. Maybe Santa just had assumed…

"Uh oh…" Raz blinked. While her brothers may have been mean and bullied her all the time, nobody deserved to not have Christmas! Suddenly she felt very sorry for them. She imagined their sad faces if they didn't wake up to presents… she traced her finger around Aaiden's name. "Poor big bloke…" she murmured.

They shared glances. "…Guys?"

"Yeah?"

"Let's go talk to Santa." Then they went off.

He was loading a huge bag with the little sloths, humming to himself. "Uh, Mista Santa sir?" Flynn tugged at his coat, and he looked down at the seven little animals.

"Yes?"

"U-Um, about the naughty list…"

"Yes?" he continued stuffing the bag with peppermint wrapped presents.

"W-Well, weh was wondrin…"

"Yes?" he was beginning to get annoyed.

"Well… why're my big sisters on the naughty list?" the rabbit received pointed looks from the others and hurriedly added "A-And the others?"

Santa looked perplexed. "Why? They're horrible children, they pick on you all the time!" he sounded confused at their question and angry as he spoke of them, but inside he was smiling.

"Well yeah, but… I don't wanna see 'em all sad on Christmas." Gunner explained pleadingly. "Whatif they stop likin Christmas cuz'a it?"

"Yeh!" Raz agreed. "Ah don' like em sometimes, bu' ev'n they're no' bad nuff no' ta git Christmas! Iss' no' fair!"

"Yeah! Who came up with the dumb idea for a naughty list anyway?"

He looked taken aback by the sudden angry outburst, nodding in approval inside. Yep, definitely golden hearted. "Well, I suppose…"

"Please? Krissy's always nice ta me! And the others can learn!" Gupta begged. They all looked at him pleadingly, eyes big and glassy. Those looks could get them anything they so desired.

"Oh… alright. I guess I could pull a few strings."

"Ok! But… could you get them off the naughty list first?" Flynn asked, making the others shake their heads. They loved him and all, he was like a fun brother, but his… bluntness made him annoying sometimes. He wasn't exactly the sharpest barb of coral in the sea, but that didn't really matter to them. Best friends didn't care about those things.

Santa chuckled at his innocent obliviousness and patted his head. "Alright."

"Yay!"

-Elsewhere-

Julie had recovered from her breakdown and was now managing to walk beside Nathan, who had his arm around her shoulders just in case.

He hoped they got there soon; he didn't know how much more emotional stress his wife could take, and he was getting seriously worried about her. Her blue eyes were cloudy and unfocused, like they were covered in a curtain of, mist. He hadn't seen her smile the past two and a half-ish days.

He looked back at the seventy nine daughters walking in bunches behind them. Ever since they'd admitted to accidentally chasing them off, they'd become like different people. The guilt weighed heavily on them and practically emanated off of them in a depressing manner. He'd even caught a few crying late at night. And not just his own daughters. Rosalynn had seemed really torn up the night before, shaking at the cave entrance and sobbing quietly. Anjali and Dzoita were found that morning asleep outside, and it was obvious they'd been crying together.

He gazed ahead, squinting into the distance. Those sure were some strange looking trees. They looked almost…

He shook his head and rubbed his eyes, making sure Julie was still leaning on him and didn't fall. "Ok… am I suddenly delusional or do those trees look… stripe-y?"

Everyone looked at him like he'd lost it. Even Denisha, who was riding on Amethyst's shoulder, having started having a sick feeling in her stomach. Apparently, in her mixed up state of mind, she'd accidently eaten a holly berry, which could be mildly poisonous to birds, and now she felt too weak to fly.

He sighed and raised his left arm to point, the other firmly around his wife. They all looked and, sure enough, spotted a strange clump of trees in the distance. "Wha in th'… world…" Blayke sounded amazed and confused at the same time.

Thinking they may find some kind of reference to their destination, or maybe even someone having seen their children pass by, the assorted group of families headed in that direction.

They were amazed to find some strange plants; red and white striped trees and shrubs with sparkly purple fruits on them. "Where are we?"

"I don't know." Dilynn answered his daughter. "But it I had to guess, I'd say we're getting close."

"Oh goody!" Katelynn, his ditzy yet motherly and caring wife, giggled, clapping. "I'm gonna get my baby back! Yay!" and now everyone knew where Flynn got his attitude from.

So they pressed on. The plants eventually disappeared, so they just went straight. At one point they were confronted by a very rude little sloth, and Aaiden got so mad he picked him up by the shoulders and yelled "Look, mah bab'eh sista's missin in th' middle a nowhere, were hundreds a miles fr'm home, so back off!" shaking him angrily the whole time. When he was done, he threw off into the distance, his breathing ragged with fury.

Jemal leaned away. "Jeez. Some'ns go' the pr'tec'ive big brotha act down."

He turned on him with a furious glare. "Shuddup." He hissed, then continued on.

He hadn't meant ot hurt the little sloth, or snap at his oldest younger brother, but he was worried about his little sister. The thought that he might never see her again…

While he was mentally ranting and reprimanding himself for being such an idiot and bullying her, he heard someone gasp. He looked down at Crystal, who was wide eyed, green orbs glued to something before them.

He turned to look, and gasped as well. Hundreds of teeny tiny elves were down in a valley below, working at little tables and helping a distant red and white shape that he couldn't make out due to distance stuff a large red bag, atop something that looked meant to be pulled. Eleven smaller forms stood nearby, in front of the to-be-pulled thing and seemingly tied up to it.

And, to everyone's great relief and joy, seven even smaller things stood close to the red thing, of multiple colors and shapes and heights.

They'd found the kids.

Ooh, cliffhanger! Sorry, couldn't resist! I'm not going too fast with this, am I? Oh, and merry early-Christmas! Review please! Oh, and I've already started on the twelfth chapter.

Question, has anyone else here watched 'Party With A Pirate' mode on the Ice Age 4 DVD? If not, you're very much missing out and should totally watch it. Just thought I'd throw that out there.

Oh, one last thing! You should all read MusicRocks807's new one-shot 'Dreams'! It's spectacular, especially if you're a fan of the pirates, and I recommend it 100%!